Refrigerator cabinet door rack



March 23, 1937. I E. w. GENTZ REFRIGERATOR CABINET DOOR RACK Filed July19, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l 8 d 2 w rm 6 6 5 w 2 2 WI 33 7 2 8 0 2 W, 5 v2 5/ (L m 5 INVE NT DR ATTORNEY Patented Mar, 23, 1937- PATENT mmREFRIGERATOR CABINET DOOR RACK Edward Willard Gents, Jackson, Mich,assignor to The Sparks-Withington Company, Jackson, Mich a corporationof Ohio Application July 19, 1935, Serial No. 32,280

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved door rack and moreparticularly to a'door rack adapted to be secured to the inside wall of.a refrigerator door for the purpose of storing food products therein.

' The main object of this invention is to increase the food storagefacilities of a refrigerator cabinet.

A further object of the invention is to improve the accessibility of thefood storage facilities in a refrigerator cabinet.

A more specific object of the'invention is to provide a rackparticularly adapted to be secured to the inside wall of a refrigeratordoor for the purpose of providing additional shelf space for the storageof food within the refrigerator and to make such additional space moreaccessible.

An ancillary object of the invention is to provide a food storage rackfor refrigerator doors which makes provision for momentarily depositingfood products upon a portion of the rack when the door is in the openposition.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully inthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in 'which:---

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet showing therack of my invention secured to the back wall of the cabinet door;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the rack taken .along line 2-2 of Figure1;

. Figure 3 is a sectional view of the rack taken along line 3--3 ofFigure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectionalview of the rack taken along line t-t of Figure1;

Figure 5 is a sectonal view of the rack taken along line 55 of Figure'1;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6--6 of Figure 1, showingthe manner of securing the upper end of the rack to the refrigeratordoor;

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the rack taken along line 1-! of Figure1;

8-8 of Figure 7, showing the manner of securing the lower .end of therack to the refrigerator door;

Figure 9 is a front elevation view showing a portion of a modified rackstructure;

Figure 10 is a sectional view along line lU-IO of Figure 9; and

Figure 11 is a schematic sectional view taken through the refrigeratorcabinet, the rack and door showing the relative position of the rackFigure 8 is a sectional view taken along line with respect to theinterior of the cabinet when the door is closed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral l5designates a refrigerator cabinet having a cooling unit It and a series5 of transverse shelves I! located therein. The reference numeral l8designates the door of the refrigerator cabinet l5 shown in the openposition.

The rack of my invention is generally desig- 10 hated at 19 and is shownmounted on the back wall of the door Hi. In order to simplify thedescription, it may be said at this point that in general the rack l9comprises a fabricated wire structure. The component parts of the rack,15

which will be hereinafter fully described, are

preferably united by welding the contacting portions thereof to eachother so as to form a unified article. It will, of course, be understoodthat when 20 reference is made to joining adjacent parts of the rack,such joinder is not limited to welding as any other method known to theart may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention.25

More specifically, the rack It! comprises two spaced substantiallyparallel vertical rods 20 and 2H. A transverse rod 23 is securedadjacent the upper end of rods 2|] and 2i. One end of rod 23 is providedwith an extension which may be .30 bent to form a trapezoidal frame 24.as shown in Figure 2. Frame M 'is' adapted to project at right anglesfrom the back wall of the door It.

A plurality of, in this instance four, wire rings 25 having a diametersubstantially equal to the 35 width of frame it, are secured to theupper surface of the frame. A U-shaped rod 26 is fastened at its ends tothe respective ends of frame 24 and is positioned so that the horizontallongitudinal portion thereof extends parallel to the 40 line of centersof the rings 25 but at a lower level. Thus, it is apparent that frame24, rings 25 and supporting rod 26 form a basket 21 particularly adaptedfor the storage of eggs,'fruit or the like.

Positioned directly below the basket 21 are two 45 similarly formedbaskets 28, each comprising a trapezoidal frame 29, wire rings 30 and asupporting rod 3|. The baskets 28 may be supported at one end by the rod20 and at the other by a short vertical rod 32 secured at its upper endto 50 transverse rod 23, and at its lower end to another transverse rod33, the latter rod being se-' cured at its ends to rods 20 and 2|respectively.

In sequence, positioned below the baskets 21 and 28, are to be foundvertically spaeked baskets to 34, 35 and 34 extending transverselybetween the rods 23 and 2|. The baskets 34. 35 and 33 have aprogressively increasing capacity in order to more effectivelyaccommodate food products 5 packed in containers of various sizes. Eachof these latter baskets comprises a plurality of vertically spacedendless wire frames fastened at each end to the rods 23 and 2irespectively.

More specifically, the basket 34 comprises three wire frames 31preferably of the form shown in Figure 4. It will be noted that theright-hand portion of basket 34 is only substantially onehalf the widthof the left-hand portion. The narrower portion-afiords a storage spacefor rela- 16 tively fl'at articles without a material sacrifice of shelfdepth within the refrigerator box. The lowermost frame 31 of the basket34 is provided with a suitable grating consisting of metallic rods 33extending lengthwise of the frameto form a 0 bottom for the basket. Asuitable number of cross members or rods 30 are also provided foradequately supporting the rods 33 intermediate their ends.

a The basket 35, in this particular instance, comprises two endless wireframes 43 having a trapezoidal form as shown in Figure 5. The lengthwiserods secured at their ends to the ends of the lowermost frame 43 inconjunction with the cross rods 42, form the bottom of the basket. Thebasket 36 is similar in construction to basket with the exception thatit has greater width. A plan view of the lowermost frame of the basket35 is shown in Figure 7. Three lengthwise rods 44 are employed inconjimction with the 35 lowermost frame 43 to form the bottom of thebasket. The rods 44 are given support intermediate their ends by asuitable number of cross rods 45. p

In order that the several baskets may be given further support, Iprovide a vertical tie-rod 46 secured to the outer edge of each frame ofthe several baskets adjacent one end thereof. Since the basket 35 has agreater width than the other baskets, it is desirable to provideadditional bracing to maintain a rigid structure. For this purpose,vertical tie-rod 43 may be employed engaging the ends of the wire framesof baskets 35 and 38 opposite the tie-rod 45.

The rack I3 may be supported upon the inside so wall of door It bybending the upper ends of rods 23 and 2i to form hooks 53. About eachhook 50 is looped a strap 5|, the ends of which are provided with anopening through which a screw 52' may be passed for securing the hangerstrap to the back of the door i3. The lower portion of the rack I3 maybe fastened to the back of the refrigerator door by means of hangerstraps 53 looped about the rear frame member 43 of basket 36. Straps 53are preferably positioned 50 adjacent either end of the basket as shownin Figure 7 and may be secured to the back of the door l8 by means ofscrews 54 as more clearly shown in Figure 8.

The relative position of the rack I! with re- 5 spect to the interior ofthe refrigerator cabinet I5 when the door i8 is closed, is schematicallyshown in Figure 11. The width of the baskets 21, 28, 34 and 35 arerelatively narrow as compared with the depth of the shelves i1. Thus,there is little loss of shelfspace. The storage space, however, has beenmaterially increased due to the arrangement of the several baskets uponthe back of the door it. In general, the rack IS, with its severalstorage baskets, has a further advantage in that it affords a degree ofaccessibility to the food products stored therein, not present inrefrigerators of the conventional type got employing a storage space onthe back of the oor.

It is frequently desirable to have available a conveniently positionedshelf for momentarily depositing food products thereon when removingthem from or placing them into the refrigerator.

Such a shelf may be provided to occupy the space to the right of baskets21 and 23 as shown in Figure 9 in which the shelf is designated at 55.The shelf 56 comprises a rectangular frame formed by a U-shaped member53 and a lower cross member 51 secured thereto. The upper cross portionof the member 53 and the lower cross member 51 may be bridged with aplurality of suitable rods 53 to constitute a supporting surface. Theends of the U-shaped member 53 are preferably bent back to form anelongated loop 53' as shown in Figure 1.0. Passing through theserespective loops 53 is a rod 53 Positioned transversely with respect toand secured to two vertically positioned rods 33 and Bi. The latter rodsmay be supported in horizontal spaced relation from rods 23 and 33.Thus, the shelf 55 is permitted to hinge about rod 53 when moved fromlts'raised position as shown by the full lines in -Flgure 10 to itslowered position shown by the dotted lines in the same figure. When inthe lowered position, the lower cross member 51 abuts against the twovertical rods 53 and 5| and prevents the shelf 55 from being loweredfurther. When in a raised position, the elongated loops 53' permit theshelf to move downwardly in a vertical plane and engage a hook 62provided upon the rod 23 for maintaining the shelf in the raisedposition when the refrigerator door I3 is closed.

Although I have shown and described a particular rack constructionadapted to be secured to the inside wall of a refrigerator door, it isto be understood that the same is for the P rp se of illustration andthat changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art,without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

:1. A utility rack for the door of the cooling chamber of a refrigeratorcabinet or the like comprising in combination, a supporting wire frameadapted to be secured on the inside of said door, said frame includingvertically disposed laterally spaced side rods and a pluralityof crossrods connecting the side rods arranged in spaced relation to each otherlongitudinally of the side rods, a drop shelf comprising a U-shaped wireform loops rotatably receiving a cross rod of the frame having the endsthereof return bent to supporting frame therethrough whereby the shelfmay hinge about said cross rod to move from a raised positionsubstantially parallel with the supporting frame to a positionsubstantially normal to said supporting frame, a crossrod secured to theshelf frame adjacent said loops adapted to engage the vertical rods ofthe supporting frame when the shelf is in the lowered position formaintaining said shelf in said position, and separate means connectedwith the supporting frame for maintaining the shelf in the raisedposition.

2. A utility rack of the class described comprising a supporting frameincluding vertically disposed laterally spaced side members and meansincluding a cross member connecting the side members to each other, adrop shelf comprising a substantially rectangular frame pivotgenres i 3ally connected at one side to the cross'member shell irame adlacent saidpivotal connection of the supporting frame whereby the shelf may adaptedto engage the vertical side members or hinge about said cross member tomove from an the supporting irame when the shelf is in the inoperativeposition substantially parallel with operative position for maintainingsaid shell in 5 the supporting frame to an operative position saidposition, and separate means for releasably 5 substantially normal tosaid supportin: i'rame, maintainin: the shelf in the inoperativeposition. i v a. cross rod secured to the outer surface or the EDWARDWILLARD GEN'I'L.

